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Disney, Travel

January 10, 2016 – Epcot, Finally!

Day 6 – Part One – A (New To Us) Park – January 10, 2016​

We woke up a little later than planned on this day, but it wasn’t too terrible. After waking up, we got ready, ate a few of the snacks from our stash in our room (thank you Amazon order that we shipped direct to the hotel!) and then headed out. We didn’t have to wait long for our bus, and the ride itself was fairly short. It wasn’t long before we were pulling up to Epcot – the only park we hadn’t been in yet! We arrived shortly before 10am, so almost an hour after rope drop, and the security line was crazy long! It was moving, and the wait really wasn’t too bad. Luke once again was selected for additional screening (by the end of the trip, he just headed to the metal detectors on his own without being asked, since this was now the third day in a row he was selected haha) We honestly didn’t mind, anything to help keep the parks safer!

After entering the park, we were met with this beautiful sight:

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We didn’t stop for any Photopass pictures, since we were running short on time for our first FastPass. We started heading towards Future World East. It took quite a bit longer than usual to get there, due to the marathon which was going through the park. At this point, most of the runners looked like people who were used to doing this, the people who had run a marathon or two (or fifty) in the past. It was really amazing how organized Disney is with the entire thing, the way they would corral the park visitors into one section, then change the race course ever so slightly and then move park visitors to the next section. It’s hard to explain, but it was very impressive! We didn’t mind the extra time it took to get to our first Fast Pass at all, we enjoyed watching the race and clapping our encouragement for the people who were nearing the end of a full marathon.

Once we were given the go-ahead to cross into Future World East, we hopped into the Fast Pass for Test Track (we made it with a few minutes to spare!). We didn’t have to wait very long before we were standing in front of a screen designing our own vehicle. For some reason, I didn’t think to take a picture of the monstrosity we created – just know that it was our goal to make it as ugly as possible haha…Shortly after that we boarded the back row of a blue car.

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This ride is basically the same as Radiator Springs at Disney California Adventure – and we ended up in the exact same seats in the car as we did on our April 2015 trip to California haha –

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Yes, I took a picture of the preview screen haha, we didn’t buy any of our on-ride photos from either of our first two trips to Disneyland.

Test Track is fun, and the ability to design your own car at Epcot is really neat, but I think I prefer DL’s version more. The ride just fits so well with the Cars theme, and the dark part of the ride is phenomenal! At Epcot you’re just taking turns and dealing with road conditions, at DCA you’re avoiding Mack and tipping tractors with Mater, etc. I also love the first open-air part of Radiator Springs when you’re slowly driving along the waterfall is really awesome too! Test Track is definitely a can’t miss ride for me at Epcot, but the overall theming does pale in comparison to DCA’s Radiator Springs.

After looking around at the different cars and stuff for a few minutes we decided to start heading over towards Fast Pass #2. We had time, so we stopped along the way to do a little shopping at Mouse Gear. Luke found these awesome Wall-E and Eve coffee mugs he had to have (it’s his favourite movie) so we bought those and had them shipped back to our hotel (again, I LOVE this option when staying on site). Note – not my picture, taken from a google search.

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The marathon was still in full swing, so we again had a chance to watch and cheer on the participants. By this point the people running by were just ordinary people doing an extraordinary thing, not the seasoned veterans of marathon running we had saw earlier. From where we were watching, they only had a little over a mile to go before finishing the race, so some people looked to be in excruciating pain. These people had been running for hours at this point, they were limping and bleeding, but they were still going and they were forcing smiles for the hundreds of people cheering them on. I had never been that close to the finish line of a marathon as the everyday people went by (I’ve gone to Luke’s races before, but he’s using only running 10km, so by the time we leave it’s still only the elite athletes finishing the full marathon). It was really powerful stuff to witness.

When we got to Fast Pass #2 for Spaceship Earth, there was only a 10 minute wait in the standby line. With our Fastpasses we walked onto the ride. I did enjoy this ride, but I’ll admit neither one of us were paying super close attention. We were both still thinking about watching those marathon runners. While were we looking around after getting off the ride, Luke told me that he was really inspired by watching the marathon for a few minutes, and as of that moment he realized it was something he wanted to do. He completed a half marathon a few years ago, but that was his ultimate goal at the time and afterwards he scaled back and has been doing 10km races since then (with a few 5km’s in there as well). He also decided that he wants his first ever full marathon to be a runDisney event (which is more than fine with me!). He started discussing timelines – he was able to comfortably run a 10km a few days earlier, so that was his base. He decided to aim to run a half marathon in early 2017 (at the time, we were thinking Star Wars weekend or Tinker Bell weekend at Disneyland, this has since been changed to WDW Marathon Weekend) and then come back to Florida in January 2018 so he could run a full. I was really excited about this – we hadn’t even come home yet and we had already decided on a return date! (PS: Luke is actually going to be running a half marathon in January 2017 during Marathon weekend, and we’re both also signed up for the 5km.

After this, we realized we were both a little hungry. We knew we wanted a quick service option, so we went to Sunshine Seasons. This place is great! The menu was much larger than I thought it was going to be, and we had no trouble finding things that sounded great! It also was not busy at all – and we were there right at lunch time (around 12:30). My review can be found here.

From where we were sitting, we could see that there was no line for Living With the Land, so we walked straight onto that. Ever since we bought our house I have been in love with gardening, so I really enjoyed this ride and found it quite interesting! I think I’d like to do the Behind the Seeds tour at some point in my life. (I apologize if my pictures are out of order)

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Next: More Epcot

Disney

Magic Kingdom Rides

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  • Astro Orbiter – located in Tomorrowland, offers good views of the park since you have to take an elevator just to reach the ride, but it’s a tight squeeze for 2 adults. Designed more for kids. We’ve done it once, no need for us to do it again.
  • The Barnstormer – located in Storybook Circus, kiddie roller coaster. It’s cute, very quick (only about a minute ride in total). Worth a ride if the line is short and you have time, but not one to go out of your way for. Went on it during our 2016 trip, skipped it on our 2017 trip.
  • Big Thunder Mountain Railroad – located in Frontierland, one of my favourite rides in MK. It’s the wildest ride in the wildnerness! It’s decently fast, and has some decent bumps, but it’s not scary or too much of a thrill ride. We always go on it multiple times every trip.
  • Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin – located in Tomorrowland, a shooting-type ride. The laser guns are attached to the ride, so it can be a little tricky to aim. On-ride photo when the car locks up from spinning and you’re facing Zurg. I suck at this, but we always go on it every trip.
  • Casey Jr, Splash ‘N’ Soak Station – kid’s splash park. It doesn’t see much action in January. Have never stopped here.
  • Country Bear Jamboree – located in Frontierland, an animatronic show with singing bears. The animatronics are old and out-dated, the songs are cheesy  – we loved it. It’s also inside an air-conditioned building, so if it is warm outside it’s a good place to go sit down for a few minutes.
  • Dumbo the Flying Elephant – located in Storybook Circus. A classic ride that everyone has to do at least once. There are actually 2 sets that both feed from the same queue line to keep the line moving faster. The queue is also mainly inside a large building that contains a play structure to keep kids entertained while waiting.
  • Enchanted Tales with Belle – located in New Fantasyland (NF). A cast member playing Belle tells the story of Beauty and Beast, picking kids from the audience to play different characters and use props. It’s actually pretty cute, I would do it again.
  • The Hall of Presidents – located in Liberty Square. It has animatronics for all Presidents of the US. Since we’re Canadian, we didn’t care enough to waste park time on US history. (25min)
  • Haunted Mansion – located in New Orleans Square. One of my other fav’s at MK. The queue line is fantastic, lots of really great details. The stretching room is always fun – the exit is under the ballerina (DISNEY HACK!). We always go on this more than once, there are so many small details to pick up on.
  • It’s a Small World – located in NF. We went on this only once – our first trip to Disneyland. Hated it and have refused to go on since.  It’s another one of those classic rides that everyone knows about, I’d say you have to go on at least once.
  • Jungle Cruise – located in Adventureland. Super cheesy. It’s a boat ride with a Cast Member “tour guide”. The tour is full of terrible puns – but you will get to see the backside of water!
  • Liberty Square Riverboat – located in Liberty Square. A giant boat that goes on a slow ride. Not very exciting, but it holds a lot of people so the wait is never terrible.
  • Mad Tea Party – located in NF. Classic tea cup ride, always worth riding at least once.
  • The Magic Carpets of Aladdin – located in Adventureland. Aladdin themed Dumbo ride basically. This is one of the very few things we’ve never done in Magic Kingdom…
  • The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh – located in NF.  It’s definitely a kid’s ride, but Eeyore is one of my fav Disney characters so this ride is a must for me every trip. Really cute interactive queue line.
  • Mickey’s Philharmagic – located in NF. A 12 minute 4D film. It’s fun, and definitely worth checking out!
  • Mickey’s Royal Friendship Faire stage show – It was a different show on our 2016 trip, and we didn’t stop to watch this new one on our 2017 trip. The one we watched in 2016 was cute, lots of characters. Located on the stage in front of Cinderella’s Castle.
  • Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor – located in Tomorrowland. This is designed like a stand-up comedy show, hosted by Mike from Monsters Inc. The jokes are cheesy, but I laughed – especially when they call out people in the audience. We go at least once every trip.
  • Peter Pan’s Flight – located in NF. There’s some major love among Disney fans for this ride, since it was an original at Disneyland. I don’t fully understand the love – it’s cool, but not worth waiting in a line for an hour ++. The queue line is really neat though. Worth going on once with a Fastpass or first thing in the morning if the wait is under 30 minutes.
  • Pirates of the Caribbean – located in Adventureland. If you’ve been on the one at Disneyland (DL), skip this one. DL’s is about 16 minutes long, this one is only 9 minutes. It feels way too rushed, and the story doesn’t flow as well.
  • Prince Charming Regal Carrousel – located in NF. Standard merry-go-round for kids.
  • Seven Dwarfs Mine Train – located in NF. One of the newest rides in the park, so always has the longest wait times (usually an hour+). Mid-level roller coaster, very smooth but not very long. Worth a ride for sure – get a fastpass. As you come out of the Hi-Ho part, smile! You’re being filmed – and you’ll receive a copy if you’ve purchased Memory Maker. They also take still pictures at this point as well.
  • Space Mountain – located in Tomorrowland. The seats are single file (as opposed to 2x2x2 at DL). It’s worth a ride, but nothing will ever compare to the new Star Wars overlay at Space Mountain in California – seriously amazing. On-ride photo taken from the side close to the beginning of the ride always look awkward.
  • Splash Mountain – located in Frontierland. You may get wet, but so worth it. Based on a super racist old movie that Disney doesn’t even sell anymore. Smile as you go over the 50ft drop – your picture is being taken! Worth a ride every single time.
  • Stitch’s Great Escape! – located in Tomorrowland. Ugh, skip. Worst Disney ride ever (except for the Speedway). This is now only open seasonally, so chances are it won’t even exist much longer – everyone hates it.
  • Swiss Family Treehouse – located in Adventureland, just a walk-through treehouse thing. We’ve always skipped this, I’ve never watched Swiss Family Robinson.
  • Tom Sawyer Island – located in Adventureland. You take a boat over, since it’s an actual island. We’ve never actually gone over, but it’s just a walking trail. I’m told it’s a nice place to escape to if the crowds are crazy in the park.
  • Tomorrowland Speedway – located in Tomorrowland, basically the same as Autopia at DL. I hated Autopia, so we didn’t even waste our time on this one. Kids love it though. It’s just bumper cars with no bumping.
  • Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMover – located in Tomorrowland. Slow-moving ride that takes you on a tour of tomorrowland, a storey in the air. At one point you actually go inside Space Mountain, and can see the roller coaster. Worth a ride at least once – always short lines and a good way to sit down for 10 minutes while still seeing the park.
  • Under the Sea ~ Journey of The Little Mermaid – located in NF. This is designed to look as though you are entering a cave. The ride itself is basically a condensed Cole’s Notes version of the story while you sit in a constantly moving sea-shell. We go on this every time we’re at Disney, mainly so we can sing along.
  • Walt Disney World Railroad – an easy way to get around the park, saving yourself a bit of walking. MK is huge. There’s aren’t a ton of stops though.
  • Walt Disney’s Carousel of Progress – located in Tomorrowland. A 24 minute show with 4 stages, your seats move to the next stage automatically (it’s actually a circle with 6 sections – one for loading the ride, 4 for the show itself and one for unloading). Really old animatronics, nothing has been updated in years – we loved it. This was said to be Walt’s favourite ride he ever built, he debuted it at the 1964 World Fair in NYC. It’s a Disney ride rich in history – and that song will be stuck in your head forever. In my opinion, worth a ride, but it will take almost half an hour.
Disney, Travel

Animal Kingdom Food Information

There are some really great table service and quick service options at this park

Table Service:

  • Rainforest Cafe – same as the one at Disney Springs, cool to check out at least once (and very safe food options for picky eaters)
  • Tiffins – the newest option, very highly regarded
  • Tusker House – one of our favourites! A character buffett with Safari Donald, Daisy, Goofy and Mickey. Click here for our 2016 review, and here for our 2017 review
  • Yak & Yeti – people in the Disney community rave about this place, but we haven’t tried it yet

Quick Service:

  • Flame Tree BBQ – Ate here on our 2017 trip, shared a plate of fries with pulled pork and cheese – the cheese was liquid, but it was not bad! Review can be found here.
  • Harambe Market – I’ve heard great things!
  • Restauantosaurus – has a “toppings” bar similar to Peco’s Bills at MK. Basic burgers and fries place.
  • Satu’li Canteen – new in Pandora, offers healthy beef/chicken/tofu bowls
  • Yak & Yeti quick serve – Ate here on our 2016. Gross. Just don’t. Review can be found here.

Other:

  • Nomad Lounge – a lounge/bar offering small plates and an extensive drink menu – we loved it.

There are also no shortage of places to grab snacks. This is the only park where you can get a Dole Whip with a shot of coconut rum (or dark rum if you prefer). This is one of Luke’s can’t-miss snacks (the pineapple and coconut flavours work so well together!) You can see a review here.

It’s important to remember that whenever you order a drink at any location in this park, you will be given paper straws (which are super annoying).

This park is extremely close to Animal Kingdom Lodge, which actually has some amazing food options. It’s well worth the short bus ride over to check out some of them.

Disney, Food Review

Intermission Food Court – January 12, 2016

Intermission Food Court (again) – January 12, 2016​

After we finished up our Tamu Tamu snacks, we stopped for some more Photopass pictures, meet Baloo and King Louie, went on Expedition Everest (twice), then ended our day at It’s Tough to Be A Bug. We stopped to use a snack credit on a raspberry lemonade – which was way too sweet. We then said our good-byes to the Disney Parks, and caught a bus back to All Star Music for the final time. We still had two quick service credits remaining, so we stopped at Intermission Food Court once again.

Since I had enjoyed it so much the first time, I went for the pasta ($11.49) once again.

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This is listed as a “make your own pasta – choose your pasta and sauce combination with choice of Beef Meatballs, Panko-crusted Chicken, or Shrimp”. I went for the penne pasta with chicken and marinara sauce, which also came with a breadstick and a side salad. For dessert I grabbed a chocolate dipped Mickey rice krispie ($3.99) and to drink I picked up a bottle of Coke ($2.99) to save for later, and then used my refillable mug.

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Luke went for the Hot Italian Sandwich with cucumber salad ($9.49), a Mickey rice krispie (one without chocolate) ($3.99) for dessert and a bottle of water ($2.75) for later.

My pasta was once again really impressive – I wasn’t expecting much from a quick service food court in a value resort, but it was nice to be wrong :) Luke enjoyed his sandwich as well, and said he would buy it again. He also ate his rice krispie treat and enjoyed it. I ended up taking my rice krispie back to Canada with me, ate some of it but threw most of it out. It’s never been my favourite type of treat, but I had to say I tried one!

We used our final two quick service credits for this meal. Total cost would have been $34.70 plus tax.

Disney, Food Review

Tamu Tamu Refreshments – January 12, 2016

Tamu Tamu Refreshments – January 12, 2016 – Snacks​

After our disappointing meal at Yay&Yeti Quick Serve, we went on the Safari, walked the Pangani Forest Exploration Trail and watched FOTLK before Luke decided to grab his last Dole Whip of the trip from Tamu Tamu Refreshments – this time with a shot of coconut rum!

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I didn’t order anything, but one of the cast members working there noticed my birthday button, asked me when my birthday actually was (it was the next day, January 13th), and then walked back over and handed me this :) She told me it was close enough to my birthday, I should start the celebrations a day early. It seriously made my day!

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We found a quiet spot to sit and enjoy our snacks. Luke of course loved his Dole Whip, and the coconut rum was a great addition! My elephant ear was also great! It was coated in honey I think, so it had a nice sweet taste. I couldn’t finish it though, but I did my best!

Total Cost: $7 out of pocket for the Dole Whip, the elephant ear was free thanks to some pixie dust from a CM :cloud9:

Disney, Food Review

Yak & Yeti Quick Serve – January 12, 2016

Yak & Yeti Local Food Cafe – January 12, 2016 – Lunch​

When we woke up, we had to check out of our hotel, so we had a few snacks from the stuff in our room before turning over our luggage to bell services and heading to Animal Kingdom. After meeting Dug & Russell and using a FP+ for Dinosaur, we realized we were hungry. We decided to stop at the Yak & Yeti quick serve location, and we were one of the first few people in line as they were opening for the day (at 11am).

I ordered the Teriyaki Beef Bowl ($10.99)

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*photo credit to Disney Food Blog*

Luke went for the Korean Stir-fry BBQ Chicken ($9.99).

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*photo credit to EasyWDW*

We were both getting so sick of desserts that we swapped out for a pork egg roll ($3.29) and a side of chicken fried rice ($3.99). I ordered a root beer to drink, and Luke had a Coke ($3.19/each).

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*photo credit to a google search*

Honestly, this was by far the worst meal of the entire trip. The food tasted like microwavable frozen dinners – the beef in mine was tough and chewy, and both were seriously lacking in any sort of flavour. The chicken fried rice was just ok, and the same for the egg roll. I know some people will say “what did you expect, it was cheap”, but I just feel like Disney can do so much better! And I hear reviews all the time about how great the table service Yak & Yeti is, but it’s going to take me a few trips before I can bring myself to add it to my list. As for this quick serve location, I can’t see us ever returning.

I also dislike the paper straws you have to use in AK. I get the whole reasoning behind it, but I’m not a fan of using them.

We used one quick serve credit each, but it would have cost $34.64 before tax if we were paying out of pocket.

The best part of this meal was the sitting area. It was outside, and HUGE! There was a water feature where a bunch of birds were hanging out, so we sat and watched them for a bit.

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Disney, Food Review

Crystal Palace – January 11, 2016

Crystal Palace – January 11, 2016 – Supper​

After a PPO breakfast and an early lunch at BOG, we had to wait until the very end of the night for a super late dinner reservation at Crystal Palace. To hold us over, we did have snacks during the afternoon – Luke had a Dole Whip float:

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There’s not a lot to say about this snack. It’s pineapple whip served with pineapple juice. I’m not a big fan of pineapple, but I always sneak a few spoonfuls of this and really enjoy it. Luke loves pineapple, so it’s a no brainer that he loves this!

I had a popcorn for a snack. It was salty and oily and delicious, and I ate it so quickly I forgot to take a picture of it.

After watching the Main Street Electrical Parade, we made our way very slowly through the crowd over to Crystal Palace to check in for our reservation.

I apologize, I only took one picture of one plate of food we had here, but here it is:

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Starting at the bottom and working our way clockwise, there’s peas and corn, broccoli, mashed potatoes and gravy, turkey and gravy, green beans, corn dog nuggets, a roll, ceasar salad and chicken nuggets. We were there at the very end of the night, so the food was basically what you would expect from an end-of-the-night buffet. It was edible, and we were hungry so we ate a lot, but it wasn’t as fresh as it could have been. That was all on us though, booking a reservation that late at night. I’d imagine the food would actually be quite good if you went during a peak time!

I just asked Luke what he remembered about the meal, and he said he ate a lot of chicken nuggets there because they were really good.

I didn’t take any pictures of dessert, but they do have a self-serve soft ice cream machine, so I did have some of that. Luke remembers loving one of the desserts – he said it might have been a fruit crumble or maybe a square of some kind – I know, super helpful note taking from this meal :crazy:

On the flip side, because we were there when it wasn’t very busy, we had some of the best character interactions! When Piglet came by our table, Wishes was starting. Piglet was perfectly in character, and was acting all scared of the loud noises happening outside.

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Pooh was cute, but I don’t remember anything special about the interaction.

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Tigger was bouncy and fun:

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And then there was Eeyore. He is my favourite Disney character, and this was one of the best interactions I’ve ever had. I had an Eeyore bow in my hair, and when he noticed it he gave me the biggest hug!

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After taking a few pictures, Eeyore linked arms with me, waved to my boyfriend and then started walking me across the restaurant. His handler started laughing, and asked if he was trying to steal me, and Eeyore nodded yes.

I love that the characters don’t care that they are dealing with two adults, they were so much fun and didn’t make us feel awkward at all about meeting them without any kids. It made my night, and now I’m kind of sad we didn’t make an ADR here for our next trip…

We used our final two table service credits on this meal. If paying out of pocket, it would have cost $89.44.

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Disney, Food Review

Be Our Guest – Lunch – January 11, 2016

Be Our Guest – January 11th, 2016 – Lunch​
After a busy morning in Magic Kingdom, we headed to our early lunch reservation – once again at Be Our Guest! That’s right, we hit the BOG trifecta of all three meals! The only time I was able to book an ADR was for 11:25, which felt so early…we were still full from our breakfast, but we figured we would find a way to eat :teeth: We checked in pretty much on time, and they were immediately ready for us. We were led across the bridge and into the castle, where we were once again handed a plastic tracking device rose. I was so glad we had pre-ordered our meals, the line of people waiting to order at the kiosks stretched almost half way across the bridge – I’d guess they had at least a half hour wait before they would even be ordering. So pre-order people, especially at lunch!​

 

We decided that since we had sat in the Ballroom for supper, and the West Wing for breakfast, we only had one more room to sit in – the Rose Gallery/music box room (whatever it’s actually called). We had no trouble finding an empty table in here, and we sat our tracking device rose down and went to grab drinks – root beer for me and a Coke for Luke ($2.99 each if paying out of pocket).​

 

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Within a few minutes, a cart was wheeled over with our food! Luke knew when we pre-ordered that he would be sick of dessert by the time this meal rolled around, so he swapped out his dessert for the french onion soup ($5.69). That thing had so much cheese on it! In the picture, he had already broken through the cheese and ate a few spoonfuls, but you can see how thick that top layer is! I hate onions, but I don’t mind the flavour of them (I just won’t eat an actual piece of onion – I think it’s a texture issue in my head). I did try some of the broth of this soup, and it was really nice! I don’t think I had ever tried french onion soup before this though, so I wouldn’t call myself an expert on that dish… Luke really enjoyed it, and did eat quite a bit of it.

For his meal, Luke went with the braised pork – slow-cooked pork with vegetables and bacon served with mashed potatoes and green beans jardiniere for $14.99. I loved this! I wasn’t even hungry, but I did steal more than a few bites of this. The green beans weren’t even close to being as good as the ones served at dinner at Be Our Guest, these ones were just standard beans. The potatoes were ok, but the star of the dish was the pork. ​

 

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I went for the croque monsieur – Grilled sandwich of carved ham, Gruyere cheese, and bechamel with Pommes Frites for $12.99. I did take a bite of this before I remembered to snap a picture – oops! This was good, but I really wish I was a little bit hungrier. The ham was good on this, and the bread was not just white Wonder bread (which is disgusting in my opinion), so that was a win. I’m pretty basic when it comes to my taste in cheese (I don’t stray too far from the base cheeses – mozza/cheddar/etc) but this one was good and not too strong (I won’t even touch old cheddar, I hate cheese with a strong taste). My only complaint was that there was WAY too much cheese on this. Dairy is one thing that sometimes bothers my Crohn’s, so I’m always aware of how much I’m eating – in small doses I’m fine. I know that if I had have finished this sandwich, it would have resulted in an uncomfortable afternoon. I did eat half of it and enjoyed it though! The fries served at lunch were different than the ones served at dinner (which as you remember, I did not like at all). These ones though – I loved! I prefer shoestring style fries (like McDonald’s style!). I also love pepper, I’m sure you’ve noticed most of my meals coated in the stuff haha… I did end up putting quite the dent in my pile of fries.

I forgot to take a picture, but I went for the triple chocolate cupcake for dessert – chocolate sponge cake, chocolate mousse filling, and chocolate ganache for $4.59. I took a bite of it, and left it. It was good, but I was so over desserts. I wish I had have followed suit with Luke and ordered soup instead.

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I think we both enjoyed lunch here. We couldn’t fully enjoy it, since it hadn’t really been that long since our breakfast here, and I was getting a little tired of greasy food (I know, that’s all on me). Right now we don’t have lunch at BOG in our plans for our upcoming trip, but I would not rule it out for other future trips. I think I can say we will be back here at some point (and I’ll probably order that pork!)

We used two quick service credits on this meal, which would have cost $44.24 before tax.​

Disney, Travel

January 9, 2016 – Disney Springs/Fort Wilderness

After eating our disappointing pretzels, we decided it was time to head out of the park. We stopped by the Christmas tree outside the main gate for more Photopass pictures

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This is basically the only one that’s worth posting haha. The photographer told us to do the hula for some reason, but Luke and I are awkward and all of those pictures did not turn out haha…

I really wanted to go on the transportation boats, so this was our chance to do so! We hopped on the boat that was headed for Epcot. I decided we should get off at the Yacht & Beach Club – I secretly really wanted to see the gazebo there that hosts Disney weddings haha! It was everything I thought it’d be, so gorgeous! What a beautiful resort the Yacht Club is, but I don’t think it’s my style so it’s not high on my list of places to stay. We didn’t have a ton of time to look around, and I didn’t take a single picture :confused3. We went to the bus stop and had to wait about 15 minutes, our longest wait yet for Disney transportation. Finally, we were on a bus heading to Disney Springs!

Once our bus pulled up to Disney Springs, I had time to grab a map and then we headed straight to Morimoto Asia to meet up with my cousin and her boyfriend. As always, click here to read the review.

After we finished our meal (which my cousin insisted on paying for, it was so nice of her!) we headed over to Raglan Road to sit outside. It was a really nice afternoon, so everyone (except me) grabbed a beer (beer=gross). We sat, drinking, chatting and soaking up the sunshine. The boys each bought a second beer to go and the four of us walked, stopping to check out a few stores. My cousin’s son loves Lego, so she had to go take pictures of the store for him (he was at home in southern Florida with his grandparents, my aunt and uncle who were in Florida visiting). After this, my cousin and her boyfriend realized it was starting to get late, and they had a few hours of driving ahead of them so we said our good-byes and parted ways.

Our original plan was to spend this day relaxing and checking out Disney Springs and I’m so glad we didn’t have any ADR’s in the parks so we could make a meet-up with my cousin work! It was really nice to see her! One of my trips to Miami was before she had her son, and her husband at the time was working long hours so we spent an entire week hanging out with just the two of us, so we’ve been close since.

After saying goodbye, Luke and I stuck around Disney Springs. We took our time looking around inside the stores but not buying much at first. At some point, it started POURING rain – and of course our rain coats were back in our hotel room. We had to make a dash from store to store trying to stay dry. We ended up spending over an hour at World of Disney, I had to look at everything! I ended up spending quite a bit of money there on souvenirs haha…

Minnie and Mickey mugs for my grandmother:

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A new sweater for myself:

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A pair of Mickey head wine stoppers:

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*Photo credit to a google search*

A picture frame with Mickey heads for my mom

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*photo credit to a google search*

and Disney ties/bow ties for my little dog and cats (they won’t fit on my big dog).

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After our shopping spree at World of Disney, and a bit of window shopping (while running from store to store in the rain), we realized we were a little bit hungry again. We didn’t want to ruin the late supper we had planned, so we went to Ghiradelli for a little snack. It had been raining for hours by this point, and it was kind of cold so I decided I didn’t want ice cream, and went for the salted caramel hot cocoa. It was so good! It was warm and tasty and exactly what I wanted at that moment :) Luke chose a scoop of chocolate ice cream and a bottle of water. We managed to find a dirty table under the overhang where we could stay dry outside, so we sat and enjoyed our snack. After finishing up, we decided it was time to start heading towards our supper reservation – I was looking forward to this one!

We made a stop at the Christmas store, I love ornaments! I found an All-Star Resort ornament which I plan on taking a fine-tip Sharpie and adding in the dates of our trip.

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Luke also found a Wall-E and Eve ornament, which is his favourite Pixar movie.

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After paying for our purchases, we went and hopped on a bus to Fort Wilderness – we were heading to the Hoop-dee-doo Musical Revue! It stopped raining while we were on the bus. We had the entire bus to ourselves, so we spent the drive chatting to our bus driver – what a nice lady! She was so helpful and friendly, and explained exactly how to use the Fort Wilderness internal buses to get back to Hoop dee doo. We had about a 10 minute wait before the internal bus came along, and by that point more people had joined us in waiting, all on their way to the same dinner theatre show :)

I didn’t realize how huge Fort Wilderness was! It was a short walk from where the bus dropped us off though, and we were still too early to be let in for the show. We went to the ticket booth to make sure we were good to go, and then we had time to just look around. There was a little shop close by, and I ended up spending $50 on a bracelet and charms…opps! I really liked it though, and ended up wearing the bracelet every day for the rest of our trip!

After waiting for about 15-20 minutes, we were let in for the show. We had a great table in category 2 seats for the last show of the night (the 8:30pm show). It wasn’t even close to being sold out, and it was mainly adults there at that time of day. My review can be found here.

After the show ended, we caught a bus back to the main gate at Fort Wilderness. From there, we hopped on a bus heading to Magic Kingdom, and then from there we had to catch a third bus to get back to All Star Music. The most we had to wait for any of the connections was a few minutes, so not bad at all. By the time we got back to our room, it was after 11pm so we just went straight to bed to prepare for another full day tomorrow!

Next:

 

Disney, Travel

January 9, 2016 – A Hollywood Studios Morning

After our long day on Friday, we decided to sleep in a bit on Saturday. Our first fastpass for the morning was for Muppet Vision 3D, but we had walked straight onto it yesterday, so we used that time to sleep instead. After we woke up a little after 9, we got ready while eating a few of the snacks we had in our room (you might remember I had placed an Amazon order for a bunch of American snacks that I can’t get in Canada and had it shipped to our hotel. I grew up about a 2 hour drive from the Maine border, so we used to drive over there a few times each year and we always spent time in a grocery store buying different snacks and food to take home with us.)

We headed out of our room and caught a bus back to Hollywood Studios. Originally we weren’t even going to use this as a park day, and just spend the time hanging out at our hotel and checking out Disney Springs, but once we realized how little it would cost to change from a 5 day ticket to a 6 day ticket, we figured it was worth it for 3 Fastpasses (especially since Hollywood Studios uses that tiered system for FP). Once we went through security (where Luke was once again selected for additional screening haha) we had time to stop for a few Photopass pictures! I really wanted to get a few with the Minnie Ears I had purchased the day before :)

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I have no idea why I took my glasses off for these pictures? :confused3 Even my sunglasses are prescription ones, I wear my glasses all day every day. Oh well, I guess it’s nice to have a different look in these pictures…

From there we headed over to our 2nd Fastpass selection of the day (but the first one we made it to..) – Star Tours. Again. For the fourth time in 2 days haha – like I said, we really enjoyed this ride! We were just walking along afterwards when I saw another Photopass photographer, so you know what happened next! I made Luke pose for more pictures with me! For these ones I’m again not wearing glasses, and I also took off my Lion King sweater from the previous pictures…clearly I must have had a reason for this, but I couldn’t tell you what it was…

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We were then off to our 3rd and final Fastpass for the day, with me freaking out the entire way. When we entered the Fastpass line for Rock N’ Roller Coaster, I honestly thought I was going to have a panic attack – I had only ever been on 2 rides in my life that went upside down, and I had bad experiences on both of them. The first was on a ride called the Rok-n-Rol and I left with bruises on my hips from the seatbelt. The second was my first and only time on the Zipper. I was wearing flip-flops (because I was 14 and way too cool to be spotted wearing sneakers at an amusement park), and they fell off my feet as soon as went upside down. Luckily the zipper has you inside a little cage so I didn’t lose my flip-flops, but they did manage to smack in the face multiple times before the ride was over.

Here’s our on-ride photo from Rock N’ Roller Coaster. My face is pure fear.

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Luke was so excited about this ride, I only went on it to make him happy. But, as it turns out – all of that worrying was for nothing! I ended up loving this! It was really quick, only lasting a little over a minute (so I can’t imagine standing in line for hours for it), but I’m really glad I went through with giving it a chance. I barely even noticed the loop, since you can’t really see the track in front of you so you don’t notice it until you’re upside down, and even then it’s so fast. I will absolutely go on this again on our next trip, and I won’t be freaking out about it at all!

After we got off the ride, there was a cast member drawing on the pavement with water. It was really neat, so we stood around for a few minutes watching that.

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We were both starting to get a little hungry so we decided to try the pretzels. My lackluster review can be found here.

Next: A Boat Ride, A Reunion and the RAIN!